Psoriasis & Nursing Assessments
Nursing assessments are done to gather information about a patient's health based on what the patient reports and what the nurse finds out through asking questions and performing a physical assessment. Psoriasis is a chronic skin disorder with certain definitive characteristics that the nurse can use to determine if a patient should be referred to a dermatologist.
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Interview
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The nurse asks the patient about his concerns. A patient with psoriasis may complain of burning, soreness, itchiness or painful joints.
Preparation
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The nurse prepares her patient for a physical examination by making him comfortable on an examination table and exposing the areas of his body affected by psoriais one after the other. It may be necessary to for the patient to put on a hospital gown.
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Inspection and Palpation
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The nurse observes the sites of the body affected by psoriasis and looks for thickened skin with red bases topped off with silvery tops or scales. Palpation of the area may reveal thickened skin texture.
Referral
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The nurse notifies the hospital dermatologist about her assessment findings or refers her patient to a dermatologist for expert treatment of this skin disorder.
Teaching
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The nurse formulates some nursing diagnoses based on the problems her patient is having with this skin disorder and teaches her patient different ways to cope with psoriasis and reduce some of the discomforts associated with it.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Faraz Usmani
